Polysaccharides such as pectin and carrageenan are useful as colloidals in many applications including, but not limited to food preparation. Polysaccharides can be extracted from biomass materials containing polysaccharides and such biomass materials may include citrus fruit peel, apple pomace, sugar beet residue from sugar production, sunflower residue from oil extraction, potato residue from starch extraction from potatoes, red seaweed and brown seaweed, and the like.
Some biomass materials contain juice, essential oil, sugar, water, or combinations thereof. Often, materials such as juice, essential oils, and sugar are removed or extracted from the biomass material and the pectin is then extracted from the remaining biomass material. Such biomass material such as fresh citrus peel may contain pectinases, particularly pectin methyl esterase and polygalacturonase, which starts to de-esterify and depolymerised pectin in the fresh peel, respectively. This leads to pectin having a lower degree of esterification and a lower molecular weight over time, for instance during the time where the fresh peel is transported between juicing and drying or extraction.
Prior approaches to treating polysaccharide containing biomass materials are relatively complex or ineffective or result in biomass that is hazardous to transport. Consequently, there is a need for a more safe and simple, yet effective polysaccharide-containing biomass preservation method.